How many sprites or custom monsters can I add to a map? (answered)

[arepakiller]

How many sprites or custom monsters can I add to a map? I saw this small tutorial of (Kappes Buur) on how to add several custom monsters to a sigle map. But does this have a limit?

http://www3.telus.net/NeoHippo/TUTORIALS/MERGE%20MORE%20MONSTERS/Merging%20More%20Monsters%20Into%20Your%20Map.html

PS: this is my last question for now since I've been flooding the forum lately, and thanks for any answer

[Phml]

I don't know much about ZDoom editing (euphemism of the year), but I've played enough wads with way too many custom monsters to know that if there is a hard limit, it's high enough.

[GreyGhost]

There's only a couple of hundred beasties in Totmentor's bestiary, and if Aeons of Death is any guide you could probably add all those and more to your map. The question then becomes - how big a resource management headache do I want to have.

Don't go overboard with custom monsters - especially the bosses - they don't make levels better, only harder.

[Chopkinsca]

GreyGhost said:

Don't go overboard with custom monsters - especially the bosses - they don't make levels better, only harder.

This. A common folly for new mappers is to use a lot of custom monsters without thinking about if they actually fit in with their game mod. Make sure the monsters fit with the theme, and don't use custom monsters just because you can.

[Gez]

arepakiller said:

But does this have a limit?

A technical limit? Not really. It's high enough not to be reached unless you spend several years slavering over the project of making the weirdest Doom Zoo ever. Given that a several hundred megabytes addon like Aeons of Death remains below that limit, and that it does fit the profile of several years spent adding stuff to it, you're safe.

An artistic limit? Now this is much lower. It depends on your approach and what exactly you're trying to do; but you'd be well inspired not to add more than, say, five new monsters total. If you want more than that, for each additional custom monster, remove two stock ones.

It's possible to use well a lot more than that; but it's difficult. Each monster you add is a monster you have to learn how to use. And the number of monster combinations rises exponentially. Since you self-identify as a noob, you shouldn't make it too hard for you to find a balanced and engaging gameplay for your map.